


No Second Chances

by scifishipper



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-14
Updated: 2012-11-14
Packaged: 2017-11-18 15:02:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scifishipper/pseuds/scifishipper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura fights her cancer and Helena Cain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Second Chances

“Commander. She won’t hesitate to kill you. Don’t let her.” Laura’s proud of the firmness in her voice, how the cough stays down deep in her lungs until she can finish. She needs Bill to live.

His expression doesn’t change, guarded, sad, the glimmer of tears on his cheek despite his attempt to wipe them away. And then he turns to leave as she watches, swallowing down emotion. With the clang of the lower hatch closing, the cough rumbles up, the force of it shoving out breath and tears until she is spent. Her body, weak and betraying, finally falls deeper into the bed, the dim light of the lamp casting shadows around the edges of the room.

She pulls at the lamp string, silencing the light and calling to sleep, the hope of more energy in the morning. There is work to be done. Laura knows that Cain will kill anyone who gets in her way, the last of the humans left to the wanton desires of a revenge-minded officer. It makes Laura shiver, the way Cain’s face set in determination the day before, a hair’s breadth away from open defiance, yet managing to hold onto the thinnest remnants of her humanity. Or biding time, she realizes, taking tactical advantage of Galactica while she still can. Bill must end her. He must.

With another deep cough, her mind rushes back to the cancer. _A month at most_ had been Cottle’s words. Too soon, her mind screams. Panic lights a flame in her chest, her heart racing as she feels the ultimate betrayal. No cylon body for her, no joy of living on, just this pain choking her breath and trying to wrench away her will to fight. She must fight.

A gasp of air finally calms her coughing and her body stills. Her mind is awash with thoughts of what could be, what could have been, Bill’s fingers clutching hers. Grief, thick and strong, threatens to steal the remaining days of her life, especially now as she lies in the comforting prison of her quarters. It’s peaceful and quiet, makes her think that it might not be so bad, the relief of the end, the flickering then bright beacon to lead her home again. 

In the light of her mind, though, she sees Bill’s face, grief and tears standing over her, the firmness of his hand trying to hold onto her life when she can’t. He would will it away, she knows, or battle for it as if it were a real foe he could slay. Powerlessness, the one thing he cannot stand, compelling him to fight, even if there is no hope of victory. 

She feels his pain, the depth of his blue eyes, the tears he tried to hide from her. The power of their connection scares her, plumbing the depths of her terror, to love and lose, give everything and have it snatched away. Her stomach flips, longing supplanted by need and surety, a will to hold firm and wait. Keep him far, save his pain. Save herself in the last dwindling days. She tries.

Deep sobs wrack her now, pulling the grief from places she has refused to acknowledge, losses so far gone that they should be just wisps of mist, yet they are thunderclouds, deep and strong, that roar through her soul until she is left panting. With clenched fists she forces herself to sit, pull herself up and out and away from the blackness. She is not ready yet to give in. The blackness, vile and seductive, urges her to let go, submit, promising freedom and release, its toll a price in blood. 

With shaking hands, Laura scrapes away the tears and grips the side of the bed. She flicks on the light, brightening the room and stinging her eyes. Ahead of her, out the starboard window, Pegasus floats alongside, its massive bulk a harbinger of deadly things. Cain, like her cancer, has a will of her own, and must be extinguished to win. If she cannot defeat the cancer, that woman will do. 

She will fight to the end, despite the pain, despite her own fears of death, even if only to make sure Bill lives. 

Bill. 

He must survive.


End file.
